Vanuatu has come in second place in the World’s Happy Planet Index.
According to the Index released last month, Vanuatu is behind Costa Rica.
According to the Vanuatu National Statistics Office, this is the third time that the country is ranked in the top 5 countries in the world since the index was first reported in 2006, thanks to the VNSO’s well-being indicators initiative.
The HPI considers life satisfaction, life expectancy, and ecological footprint in order to rank countries by how much happiness they get from the amount of environmental resources used. The ranking shows where there is greater ecological efficiency in living long and happy lives.
Vanuatu has consistently remained in the top 5 for each year they were included in the HPI since 2006 lending to tourism promotion opportunities, export market promotion opportunities, and more. Regular collection and reporting of well-being data has helped shape national dialogue on development and focus policy on what matters most to the people of Vanuatu, rather than on endless and boundless economic growth through consumption at the expense of natural resources.
Vanuatu, like most Pacific Island Countries, has a vibrant traditional economy supporting a rich cultural life with values absent from National Accounts.
There is a case to be made that the countries in the Pacific would be better off transitioning to well-being economies in order to safeguard those things that support long and happy lives.
Vanuatu remains the only Pacific Island Country listed in this most recent ranking of the HPI, as a direct result of the work done by the VNSO to integrate well-being metrics into regular surveys and publications. This should be a call to action for other countries in the region to begin measuring and reporting well-being as regularly as possible. Modules for this were developed from 2013-2015 with NSOs, culture officials, and planning offices in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Solomon Islands through the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat.